"Is there something special about tonight's game or are the cheerleaders just overly excited for no reason?" I brush my hair back out of my face as I walk out of the media center with April. I figure that she'd know more about football games than I do because she's been dating a member of the football team far longer than I've been friends with one. I'm sure Shane probably mentioned to me if this week's game is a big game but I just don't really listen to him much when he talks about football. I pull on the sleeve of Alex's jersey to make sure it's aligned right with my shoulders. It's a little big on me but I've been watching April all day to see how she does it with Jackson's jersey. She adjusts it every now and again but for the most part, she just accepts the fact that it's too big. Some type of luck has been on my side all day because I've been able to tag along with April all day. The cheerleading squad and the football team have been excused from all morning classes to set up for the pep rally this afternoon which means we haven't been doing any work. The only thing I've done so far was present the geography project first period. Steph, Heather and Leah all left after we presented so I was alone until second period when I finally met up with April in the media center. I've been with her ever since.

"I think Jackson said something about if they win tonight they'll make it into the playoffs." April flips her lengthy, crimson red hair over her shoulder and holds onto the railing as we start walking down the ramp to get onto the first floor of the school. "Are you just gonna pal around with me until lunch?"

"Yeah…if that's okay with you."

"It's fine with me as long as your third period teacher knows where you are. I'll have Mrs. Farmer call for you." She turns into the first floor computer lap and puts her purse down on one of the tables next to a computer. There's literally nobody in the lab right now which makes me wonder if we're even allowed in here. "Who do you have this period?" April sits down at a computer and starts logging on it.

I follow her lead and sit down at the computer next to her. "Rixton." I look up as the slender, elderly Mrs. Farmer walks through the door. I have Farmer for computer applications in the afternoon. She's a pretty cool teacher if you're on her good side. With Farmer in the room, that makes three. It's just me, April and Farmer.

"Hey Farm, can you call up to Mr. Rixton's room and let him know that Jo's down here with us? She said he shouldn't mind but if he asks, just tell him that she's helping me with something." In her purse, April rummages around for something that's clearly at the bottom of it.

"Jo who, Wilson?" Mrs. Farmer looks up from her desk. "Do you have Rixton for chemistry, Jo?" She walks over to the phone on her wall and picks it up. "I thought chemistry couldn't be taken until sophomore year."

"I tested into it over the summer. The eighth grade science teacher recommended that I skip biology so I tested into it during the summer. I already have my bio credit." I fluently explain that to her. It's not the first time I've had to explain something like that. I'm the only freshman in my chemistry class because it's not a freshman class. Every other freshman has to take biology but since I was recommended to skip it by my eighth grade teacher, I had to take this test over the summer and if I scored a certain percentage, I could skip biology and get the credit for it.

"So you're a brainiac too?" April finally pulls what she was looking for out of her purse; her headphones. "It's about time Alex dates somebody that isn't as dumb as a doornail." She mumbles under her breath. "You want one?" She offers one of her earbuds to me. I nod and take it, putting it in my left ear.

"Me and Alex aren't dating though. We're friends…" I adjust the headphone in my ear and scoot closer so it's not pulling as much. "But he usually goes after the dumb ones?"

"Alex wouldn't give you his football jersey to wear around school all day if you weren't dating, Jo." She plugs her headphones into her cell phone and taps in her code. "He's not exactly the best at telling girls how he feels about them, but I think it's safe to say you're his lady-candy. The jersey speaks volumes." April goes into her music app and turns it on shuffle. "If you want to change the song, my code's 1-4-3-2." As if she's busy, she starts doing some work on the computer.

I'm really trying not to read too much into what the jersey actually means, but is she serious? Am I Alex's girlfriend? I don't have anything I need to do for school because I'm caught up with all my work but I'm sure I can find something to do to keep myself busy while April works. Underneath the computer table, my foot starts tapping along to the beat of the song and I quietly mouth the lyrics I know. "Give a little time to me or burn this out. We'll play hide and seek to turn this around. All I want is the taste that your lips allow. My my, my my, give me love."

"You dig Ed Sheeran?" April suddenly stops typing and turns her attention to me. I blush simply for the fact that she caught me lip-synching. I shrug out of embarrassment. "I knew there was a reason I liked you. What other kind of music are you into?"

"…I really like everything." I hate when people ask me what my favorite kind of music is because I never know what to say. I don't have a favorite type of music. I listen to everything and whatever I like, I like. "I like rock, pop, hip-hop, r&b… everything."

"I'm always looking for someone to go to Warped with me. Meredith and Cristina just don't know good music and I'd have to sedate Jackson for him to enjoy it with me. He hates everything that isn't rap. That's probably why him and Alex get along so well."

"…Warped Tour? You've been to Warped Tour?" Oh my god I'm so jealous of her! I've never had anyone to go with either! I don't even dare ask Shane because he just doesn't know any good bands and he'd be totally lost with the guys that play at Warped. "You've seriously been to Warped Tour?"

"Yeah. I go every year, usually with my sister Libby and her friend Janet. I'm always the third wheel so I'm always looking for someone to come with me but there's only a select amount of people that really appreciate Warped." She picks up her phone just as "Give Me Love" ends and scrolls through more music. "You ever been?"

"No, oh my god, I WISH." I'm in like, serious awe right now. She's been to WARPED. I've always wanted to go! "Tell me you saw the lineup for this year. TELL me you saw it."

"Yes I've seen it and I almost threw up when I saw that We The Kings is coming this year."

"And The Ready Set! I so would kill to go."

"I'll ask Libby tonight if she and Janet are going this year and if they are, you can definitely come with us. Even if she and Janet aren't going, me and you can go. It's going to be in Olympia."

"Oh my god April, I love you." I don't think grammy would mind if I went to Olympia with April. It's only an hour away and I'd be with a friend. I'd still have to ask but I really don't think she'll mind. "My best friend thinks I'm nothing more than a One Direction worshipping band geek, but it's so much deeper than that."

"Oh no, you don't like One Direction?"

"…I love One Direction, actually. Nobody understands though. They actually make good music."

"THANK YOU!" She throws her head back. "My goodness, somebody gets it! Jackson's always teasing me about them. He thinks that just because I'm a senior I can't be in love with a boy-band. He doesn't get it. Me and you need to give Alex and Jackson both some lessons." I can't believe how much fun I'm literally having with April. I honestly never thought I could relate to another girl like this. I thought I was doomed to get along better with guys than I do with girls but I think April could potentially be the female Shane. "Ugh, I'm in love with you, Jo." I blush again. "You're like… a miniature me. Finally I have a little sister! You happen to be my boyfriend's best friend's girlfriend, but that's fine too. We can just double date."

"…I would love to double date with you and Jackson but it's seriously not even like that with me and Alex. I know I'm wearing his jersey and all but I think it's more of a friendly thing than it is a romantic thing. I can tell when a guy likes me and I'm just not getting that vibe with him." I grab a chunk of my hair and try to find split ends. My grammy does a pretty good job of making sure I get regular trims on my hair so I don't have any split ends but I can still look. It beats looking April in the eye right now. "I think we're just friends."

"Well you're wrong about that." She pulls the headphone out of my ear and shoves them back into her purse. "Why aren't you getting that vibe?"

"…He's kind of mean to me." I keep picking at my non-existent split ends and sigh. "Like this morning he kind of like… manhandled me. He didn't hurt me or hit me or anything like that; he just like… pushed me away and told me to shut up. He didn't tell me to shut up meanly… it was more like a… I don't know." I realize I probably just made Alex sound like a giant douche so I got some cleaning up to do. April is listening to me intently while searching through her purse for something else. "These guys were talking nasty about me this morning and it made me mad. They were talking loud enough for him to hear so I know he heard them but he didn't even say anything about it. He just pulled me away and told me to go change into his jersey. So I stuck up for myself and he told me to shut up and he pushed me into the bathroom. It's like… he didn't really care too much what they said, even though they were being disgusting."

"I'm listening to you, and I'm listening to every word you just said, but I have to admit that you're missing the point completely." She hands me a piece of gum from the pack she finally found in her purse and leans closer into me so we can talk more personally. "Okay first of all, he didn't mean shut up in a bad way. He meant shut up as in… let him handle it. I haven't even been speaking Alex too long and I already know what that means. And that push wasn't meant to hurt you. It was meant for you to understand that he was being serious. You gotta start reading between the lines." I nod, listening to everything she's saying. It's obvious that speaking "Alex" is something I have yet to learn. "And he cares about what they said. I didn't understand it earlier but it makes sense hearing your side of the story."

"My side?"

"Yeah, your side." She looks at me for a minute and then her face tells me that she realizes that I don't know what she's talking about. "In first period this morning, Alex was going off on Thomas for something that he wouldn't even tell us about. They were just arguing about something and Alex told him that he needed to watch his mouth and Thomas said that everybody was thinking it or whatever."

"Thinking what?"

"Whatever Thomas said about you, I guess. Alex told Thomas to watch what he says and Thomas said he was just saying what everybody in the entire school was thinking. Which I guess that made Alex mad because somehow a chair got pushed into a wall and they both got detention for the rest of first period. Alex wouldn't even tell us what Thomas said but we all assumed that it had something to do with you because the only time Alex gets mad like that is when somebody has something bad to say about you."

"…He gets mad? Over things that are said about me?"

"Oh honey, you really are lost." April puts her hand on my shoulder in a mothering gesture and shakes her head. "Every day it's something new. Yesterday it was Jake saying that you have nice boobs, on Wednesday it was a group of juniors making bets on if you…" She stops talking on that note. "Every day it's something new that sets Alex off. It just gets bad when Mer or Jackson aren't around to calm him down before it escalates."

"April, what were you about to say?"

"Nothing, Jo. Don't worry about it." She pushes the home button on her phone and checks the time. "You've probably already heard about the bet."

"I haven't…" Wow, people really do talk about me. I was beginning to think that Leah and Shane were just pulling my leg when they said that people talk about me. Why haven't I heard any of the rumors about me? Why haven't I heard anything that anyone's said? "What were they betting on, April? Nobody ever tells me what people say…" I look down in my lap and bite my bottom lip. "…Everybody's so quick to tell me that people are talking about me, but nobody ever wants to tell me what's being said…"

"They were just betting on whether or not you…" I can tell she's uncomfortable with even telling me but I really need to know. It's about me, I think I deserve to know. "Whether or not you… give…" She lowers her tone to a mere whisper. "Oral."

My jaw just drops at that. What?! Oh god, WHO said that? WHO was making bets about it? "They did what?"

"Yeah. It was a pretty big group of juniors betting on it at lunch on Wednesday. I think they said something about the YES jar having like… a hundred bucks in it and the NO jar had like twenty." My jaw is literally still on the floor and I can't pick it up. I'm not even mad about it I don't think. I think I'm upset, but not mad. I just don't get why boys have to think about that. mean, they can't just take bets on whether or not I have a nice personality? They have to take bets on whether or not I go down on boys? I'm not gonna lie; I could cry right now, but I won't. "Don't even worry about it, Jo. Alex shut it down yesterday. Nobody thinks you're like that. It was just a bunch of immature boys doing what they do best."

"…W..What did Alex think? Did he think I'm… easy?" I mean, if those guys were betting that I go down on boys, it's pretty much a given that they think I'm a slut. I hope Alex doesn't think I'm a slut. I'm not a slut. I mean, the circumstances that I lost my virginity under weren't exactly commendable but the only person that knows about that is the boy I lost it to and Shane. Shane wouldn't tell anybody about it and the boy doesn't even go to our school. Having sex one time doesn't make you a whore, even if you did have it outside.

"No! No, Jo. He doesn't think you're easy. He doesn't believe any of the rumors those boys have started about you. He knows they're not true and he knows that they're just making stuff up because he's interested in you. He knows they would never say anything or make up lies about you if he didn't want you. He knows they're just jealous that they didn't notice you until he did."

"…What rumors? He doesn't believe what rumors?"

"I'm not gonna keep filling your head with this crap. Yes, boys make up rumors about you. Yes, boys tell lies because they're desperate. Don't even let it ruin your day. I can't tell you how many times girls have told Jackson things about me because they didn't want me with him. It'll blow over in about a month. It took a month for people to realize that Jackson didn't believe the rumors about me and they'll realize that Alex doesn't believe them too. Just wait it out."

"But WHAT rumors? I haven't even heard anything!"

"I'm not even telling you. It's not gonna do anything but make you sad. You're just a little baby freshman and you don't need to be sad. You don't need to know everything, Jo. It's best if you don't know sometimes."

"…Just tell me one. I HAVE to make sure Alex doesn't believe any of them. If I tell him not to believe whatever's said, it won't be as effective as if I tell him about a specific one not to believe. Just tell me one. Tell me the WORST one."

"…You don't want to know the worst one."

"Just tell me, April." I close my eyes and grit my teeth. "I can take it. Just tell me."

"There was just one about something that happened last weekend. But your one friend put a stop to it. He told them that you were over his house the entire weekend, so he shut that rumor down. So it's not even a rumor anymore. It was just something this boy made up. He even admitted that he lied after your friend said you were over his house. It's nothing."

"What. Was. The. Rumor?"

"…He just said that he had sex with you last weekend but it was all proven false."

"WHO?! WHO SAID THAT?!" Calm yourself. You're in school. CALM YOURSELF.

"Some irrelevant junior. It's not a big deal anymore. Everyone knows it was a lie."

"That's SO not true. I…I haven't even done anything like that since… I…" I just purse my lips together. "It's just not true."

"And everybody knows that. Everybody knows that it's not true, Jo. Don't even let it bother you."

And I remember when your biggest worry was the rumors about you being a lesbian. I'd rather them think I were gay at this point.

"Hey babe, I missed you all morning." Jackson joins April and I while we're walking down the hall to the lunchroom. He and April are both talented, because somehow they're able to kiss each other on the lips without even stopping walking. Jackson puts his arm around April's shoulder and pulls her closer to him. "'Sup Wilson? I didn't quite miss you all morning, but it's still nice to see you." He waves at me with his free hand. I giggle to myself and reciprocate his wave. "The pep rally is gonna be so kick ass today. I can't wait for you guys to see it." The way he's holding April so close to his body kind of makes me a little bit jealous. April and Jackson don't get quite as many stares and gawks that me and Alex do, but the little bit they do get seem un-phasing to April. Jackson's holding her so tight, as if he's protecting her from all the words and stares and gossip and gasps. I'm beginning to think I'd have to pay Alex to put his arm around me in public.

"What's so special about it?" April weasels her arm around Jackson's waist and looks up at him with nothing but love in her eyes. They're so perfect together.

"I can't tell you that. Just know that it's gonna be awesome. The cheerleaders have us playing this game. We spent most of the time practicing how the game is gonna go, and I think you're gonna love it."

If I look up while I'm walking down the hallway, all I see are girls literally pointing at me and whispering about me. It's been like this all day. It's normally only a few stares and a couple comments but they're literally pointing at me this time. I've already talked myself out of taking the jersey off twice, but it's sounding really good right now. I just don't get what the big deal is. I want to just stand in the middle of the hallway and yell out "Yeah I'm wearing Alex Karev's jersey, what's the big deal?!" but that'll get me pointed at some more. I don't think I can deal with the pointing. I can deal with the staring, I can deal with the snarky comments but the pointing isn't something I'm prepared to tolerate. So instead of watching all the girls pointing at me, I just keep my head down while I'm walking.

When I see the pattern of the floor change to let me know I'm in the cafeteria, I pick my head up. It's already loaded up with people getting their lunch trays. Next to the bathrooms, Steph and Heather are sitting at a table selling something. I have to squint a little bit to see what they're selling. It looks like glow sticks. I look at the sign above the table and adjust my glasses on my face to read it. GLOW STICKS. $1 FOR ONE, $3 FOR FIVE. What the hell are they selling glow sticks for? And why are so many people actually buying them without knowing what they're for?

"Hey." Alex comes over to me with two glow sticks in his hand. "Green or yellow? They ran out of pink and blue." Is he really asking me what color glow stick I want? Obviously if I had to pick, I'd choose yellow but seriously? I don't know why I expect him to say something more than "Green or yellow" to me but I do.

"Yellow."

He cracks the yellow one up into a circle, pops the end inside the little tube to hold it in the circle position and hands it to me. "Hold onto this until the pep rally later." I'm really not in a good mood right now. I've had two periods to get over the rumors and crap that April told me about but I'm still not even over it. I'm in a really shitty mood to say the least. I'm not angry or anything I'm just… upset, I guess. Like I could seriously just spend the rest of my day crying. I think I'm more frustrated than anything. As always, my face gives away my mood and he definitely sees it. "What's the matter with you?"

I just roll my eyes and shake my head. "I'm just not sure if this is even worth it anymore." I mumble out loud.

"If what's worth it? What are you even talking about?"

"I just keep thinking…" I hand the yellow glow stick back to him and take the excess jersey I stuffed in my back pocket out. "What's the point? I'm putting myself through all this for no reason. I like being your friend and all, but I'm not sure if it's worth it."

"Worth what, Wilson?"

I grab the rim of the jersey and pull it over my head, right there in the middle of everything. I don't even care what people think about me right now. I'm just done with everything. I'm probably a little bit chestier than I'm willing to admit, because the weight of my boobs is clearly weighing down my tank top, exposing a little bit too much. "Here. Just… take it." I pull up the chest part of my tank to cover up the tops of my boobs and hand the jersey to him. "The things I hear about myself every day, the whispering, the pointing, the staring at me. I'm not sure if being your friend is even worth it at this point."

"You're not…" He closes his eyes and grabs me by my arm, hard. Without any more words, he drags me out of the cafeteria and over to the bathrooms. "I'm not sure what you WANT from me. What do you want me to do? You're killing me, here."

"I want you to tell me what the hell this is! I want you to… I want you to tell me that this is worth it, Alex! Because right now, I don't think it is. I'm hearing all these nasty things about me, I'm being laughed at, I'm being taunted every day because of you. All of this started when I became friends with you. I don't even think this is worth it anymore. If this is how my life is gonna be, I don't want to be your friend."

Some random boy walks by us while we're talking and just nonchalantly whistles at me. "Nice tits, Jo."

"THAT! THAT'S NOT EVEN WORTH IT!" I literally just start shaking. "I never used to get any of that until we started hanging out! I don't… I don't LIKE that, Alex."

"Then put a damn shirt on." He stuffs his jersey back into my hands. "I still don't know what you want from me. You want me to tell off every jerk that says something to you?! I can't catch them all, but I've been trying!" His screaming voice is easily the hottest thing I've ever heard but it's scary at the same time. "Why don't you just tell me what you want me to do, and I'll do it."

"I want you to... not be ashamed of sticking up for me or whatever. I want you to be a better friend."

"So you don't think I'm being a good friend? Is that the problem?"

"Yeah! You're never… there. You shouldn't let them talk to me like that. They shouldn't even BE talking about me like that. And all the whispers and pointing and stuff has to STOP. You're my friend, you're supposed to be there for me. I'm going through too much to be your friend."

"I. Can't. Stop. That." He talks to me through clenched teeth. "No matter what I do, people are gonna talk shit about it—about US. It's just how it is. That's how jealousy works. I can beat every guy that hurts your feelings to a bloody pulp, I can tell my friends to shut every jealous girl that starts a rumor about you up, I can walk around and police people all damn day about these things but it WON'T do anything because jealous people will STILL talk. I don't get why you're mad at me for something I CAN'T control."

"Because I need to know that it's even…" I close my eyes and take a deep breath. "What is this? Frankly, I don't like for my head to be messed with, Alex. You're messing with my head. I don't know what this is. Every time I give you a little bit, you take WAY more than I'm giving. It's… it's confusing!"

"What are you even talking about?!"

"THIS!" I throw my hands up. "WHAT IS THIS?!"

"Stop making a scene for everybody while you still don't have a shirt on." He completely undermines what I just said to make his point. "What is what? I'm not confused by anything so maybe you're just complicated."

"…This… this relationship? Are we friends? Because I think we're friends and then you give me your jersey to wear around school all day. Are we… are we dating? Because I think we're dating then you go and let people say whatever they want about me whenever you're around. What is this?"

"…Was my giving you my jersey too subtle for you?" His tone is thick with sarcasm. "Because up until this point, I thought you were just trying to stop putting labels on us by calling me your friend. I didn't realize you were serious."

"…See, I don't speak that sarcastic shit. Just tell me the truth."

"Of course you're my girlfriend! Of course we're an item! What'd you think? Did you think I texted you good morning and goodnight for my health? Did you think I talk about your ass because I can? Did you think I asked you to wear my jersey to school because I'm so interested in being your BFF? Tell me you're not that naïve. I know you're a freshman, but I heard you're actually pretty smart."

"…So you are my boyfriend?"

"Do you want me to spell it." He doesn't even say that like it's a question, he says it like it's a statement. "I didn't think I had to ask you flat out, but since you're being a little bit on the slow side with this… Will you put my jersey BACK on, because you're my girlfriend and I want the whole school to know it?"

"…Yes." I take the jersey back off him and pop it over my head. "And will you defend me because you're my boyfriend?"

"You really are pushing it here." He reaches out and adjusts the jersey around my shoulders so it fits as perfectly as possible. "And the next time you do that to me, you're on your own for the day."

"Do what to you?"

"Get naked in front of the whole school. It's bad enough I already deal with the boys having dirty little fantasies about you already, then you go and add fuel to their fire by taking your shirt off in front of the whole high school."

"I wasn't naked. I have an undershirt on."

"That skimpy little thing? You might as well have been naked." He pulls a chunk of my hair out of the jersey and brushes it down with his hand. "Don't ever think that I don't care about what people say, because I do. I could just care less about what they say to me." His eyes lock on mine and I literally feel like I'm going to melt. "I don't care what they say to me, but it becomes a problem when they start hurting your feelings, okay?"

"Okay." Wait, I have a boyfriend?! Holy hell! I've… I have to pee.

"…We can hold hands, I guess. If it'll make you feel better…" He turns his hand palm-up and offers it to me. With a soft smile, I put my hand in his and lock my fingers inside his. "If I don't see you again after lunch, I'll see you after my game. You're coming tonight, aren't you?" Holding hands, we both start walking back towards the cafeteria. I feel… better. I know I'm going to get stares and dirty looks when they see me holding his hand but I feel okay because I AM holding his hand. He's almost like my security blanket, I guess.

"Of course I'm coming. You want me to wear your jersey to the game too?" With my free hand, I reach over and touch his bicep. His muscle is slightly flexed because he's using it to hold my hand tightly.

"No. I want you to wear something warmer. It's supposed to get pretty chilly tonight and you don't need to be out there wearing my jersey."

"I'll give it back to you before I leave school today then."

"Don't worry about it. You're coming out after the game with us, aren't you? April said she invited you to the pizza joint we always go to. She said you, Ross and his girlfriend are coming."

"Yeah, I am."

"Then just give it to me then. I don't know if I'll see you after the pep rally either. Game day is usually always busy for me. Plus the cheerleaders got this big black out pep rally planned for the day, so that just adds to it. So just in case I don't get the chance to see you again until after my game, here's the deal for tonight." He pulls me a little closer to his body as we make our way to the table we always sit at. People are staring but I don't care. "April told me you're driving to the pizza place afterwards, right?" I nod my head. "I'll probably get there later than you will because I'm gonna shower in the locker room after my game, so don't get worried. I'll be late but I'll be there. You don't have to worry about bringing money to eat on. If it's still early by the time we get out of the pizza place, we can go hang out at my house and watch TV or something. When's your curfew?"

"11:30 when I have the car out, but if I'm not driving then I don't have to be in until like… one as long as I take my house key."

"So 11:30, since you're gonna have the car out. So just nix my house afterwards, we can hang out at my place some other time."

"…I can always drop the car back off." I suggest. "Like… after we go out to eat, I can drop the car back off at my house and then we can go to your house."

"Are you sure you're not gonna get into trouble?"

"I'm positive. My gram doesn't mind me being out late on weekends. She knows I'm a good kid…"

"Okay. So I'll follow you with my car back to your house so you can drop the car off and then we'll go back to my house. Um… Make sure you're dressed nicely or whatever. If I tell my mom I'm bringing a girl back to hang out at the house after my game, she'll probably wait up to meet you. She's weird like that."

"She sounds really nice." I can't help but smile at that. His mom sounds cute. "I would bring you in to meet my gram but she's old so she goes to bed super early. She'll probably be in bed by the time your game's over… so maybe some other time."

"I'm totally okay with that."

"So are you gonna score a touchdown for me tonight or what?"

"…Well coach does have me on offense and defense, but I don't know… I'll probably sack a couple times for you, how's that?"

"That works."

"Is this your first time at a game, Jo?" April carries two big purple blankets down the bleachers like this is an everyday occurrence for her. I brought my own blanket because it's supposed to go down to freezing tonight, plus a pair of gloves and a beanie hat to cover my ears. As opposed to every other Friday night, I'm especially excited for tonight. Of course it's not my first time at a game but it is my first time coming to cheer on my boyfriend. "If it is, you're in for a treat."

"It's not my first time at a game. I usually come to support my best friend, but he doesn't get in much. He'll play tonight though. So I'm here to support two people." I follow April down the bleachers to see where we'll be sitting. When I normally come to home games, I usually sit with Shane's little brothers and his mom because Steph cheers at home games. I actually have more friends to sit with this Friday so I'm excited. "Who all usually sits with you?"

"It's usually me, Cristina and Owen, Mer and Derek, sometimes Mark comes."

"Who's Mark?"

"Derek's friend. He's dating Mer's sister so that's usually why he comes."

"Meredith has a sister?"

"Half-sister. She's a cheerleader down there. She's a junior." April finally gets to the row of bleachers she wants to be at and starts walking towards a crowd of already-seated people. Geez. There's a crowd of them. "Her name's Lexie. She's the little one that's always getting thrown in the air off the pyramids." She approaches the group and sits down next to a boy with hair so red that he could probably be April's brother. I just quietly sit down right next to April.

In front of the red-haired guy, Cristina is sitting and lying between his legs. Mirroring Cristina and the ginger's position is Meredith and some pale-skinned guy with freakishly nice hair. Beside hair-dude is another dude with lighter, equally amazing hair. Okay, so the one Cristina's hanging all over must be Owen. Hair-dude must be…Derek. And other hair-dude is Mark. I cross my legs to seem proper and look down at the empty field. The cheerleaders are warming up over by the part of the locker room that the players run out of to break the paper sign. The other team is already on the field and the stands are already PACKED. "Is Jackson quarter-backing tonight?"

"No, he's receiving." April spreads one of her blankets across the both of our legs and leans forward to see all the ones that are sitting down the bleachers from her. "Owen, Der and Mark, this is my friend Jo. Jo, that's Owen, Derek and Mark." She points to each person as she says their names and they all seem pretty friendly because they wave to me.

"Come to see your man, hairball?" Cristina says. I think she means hi.

"April told us you were coming to hang with the big kids tonight. You'll have fun with us." Meredith's hello is a lot more welcoming than Cristina's. "Guys, she's Alex's girlfriend… the one he's been talking about."

"The freshman?" Owen sounds shocked.

"Yeah, I told you she was a grown one. A hairy, grown one." Cristina nods like she was equally as surprised when she met me.

"Why do you call her a hairball? She's not even hairy. The way you described her, you had me thinking Alex was dating a baboon." Derek leans forward and remarks at Cristina.

"Look at her. She is hairy. Have you ever seen that much hair? It's like when she turns around, all you see is the hair." Cristina motions to my hair which is hanging freely out of my beanie hat.

"So then you just say she has a lot of hair. You don't call her hairy." Derek seems confused.

"Whatever. She's hairy."

"This means they like you." April whispers to me.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WELCOME TO JAMES A. GARFIELD SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL AND THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT TO TONIGHT'S FOOTBALL GAME WHERE YOUR GARFIELD BULLDOGS HOST THE BEAVERS OF BALLARD HIGH SCHOOL. NOW LET'S MEET THE STARTING LINEUP FOR THE VISITING BEAVERS!

"Stand up, Jo… stand up. So Alex can see you cheering when they announce our starting lineup." April stands up and pulls me up with her. I can tell she's going to make me lose my voice tonight. I don't usually cheer at games like this. I just watch and clap here and there. But I can tell that April is going to MAKE me cheer tonight. I only half pay attention to the names the announcer is reading off for the visiting team's lineup. April is very tiny but she's pretty loud already.

AND NOW… THE STARTING LINEUP FOR YOUR GARFIELD BULLDOGS! As soon as the announcer says that, April starts hooting and hollering. She's gonna crack me up the whole night, I can see it now. STARTING IN THE RECEIVING POSITION, NUMBER 3, JACKSON AVERY! April screams so loud in my ear that I'm sure my brain just turned in a circle. I just bust out in laughter so loud that I can't even hear myself think. How could something so tiny be so loud? I'm not gonna scream for Alex. I'll clap, but no screaming. RECEIVING POSITION, NUMBER 25, SHANE ROSS!

"Go Shane!" I actually jump up and down and clap for him, because he NEVER gets playing time.

AND FINALLY, STARTING IN THE CENTER POSITION, NUMBER 55, ALEX KAREV!

"Wooooooo!" Is all I'm mustering up. I refuse to scream and make a fool outta myself like April is. It's adorable how hardcore April cheers for Jackson but I'm NOT doing all that for Alex. Finally, after all the players have been announced and the team ran and broke through the cheerleaders' sign, April and I sit down. Over the speakers, that Mercy song comes on while the team captains go out for the coin toss thing. This song reminds me of Shane. He called me thirsty once and I slapped him for it. He said something like "Lamborghini mercy, Jo you are so thirsty." And I hit him hard for that.

Surprisingly, APRIL starts singing along like she's all about hip-hop music. I can tell she's just a hardcore football fan. I swear, the more time I spend with April, the more I fall in love with her. She's so funny. "Lamborghini mercy, your chick she so thirsty. I'm in that two seat Lambo with your girl, she tryna jerk me." April starts dancing in her seat and urging me to sing along with her. I haven't stopped laughing since I got here.

"Drop it to the floor, make that ass shake. Make the ground move that's an ass-quake." I sing the only part of the rapping part I know. "Oh, April. What am I gonna do with you?"

"I told you I get a little crazy at football games!"

"You're super crazy." I look down at the field to see the players taking their positions. I think our team won the coin toss and we're receiving, because the other team is in the position to kick off. April stands up once again to watch the kick-off while I sit down and watch it. The other team kicks the ball high in the air and it falls into the arms of our team's number 25. Wait, number 25 has the ball! Number 25 catches the ball and starts running SUPER fast up the field and that's when I stand up. "Oh my gosh, GO SHANE! GO SHANE!" I shout as loud as I can as if he can hear me over all the other people screaming. "GO SHANE!" I literally start jumping up and down when I see him nearing that goal post with nobody even close to tackling him. "GO SHANE!" Oh my god, I'm gonna cry. He's gonna get his first high school touchdown! He gets into the end-zone and slows up his stride just as the announcer yells TOUCHDOWN BULLDOGS over the speakers.

"Jo, are you crying?!" April looks at me with a wide smile across her face.

"That's my best friend! He's my best friend! This is the first game he ever played in high school and he got his first touchdown." I wipe my eyes. I feel like I'm his mother and I'm just so proud. "WOOO GO SHANEY!" I look down on the sidelines at Leah and see she's freaking out just as much as I am.

"You better cry if Alex scores a touchdown tonight!"

"I probably freaking will! I'm such an idiot…" I sit back down while our team gets ready to kick off to the other team and wipe my face off. "I just can't believe he actually scored a touchdown and he never gets playing time."

"You're so freaking cute, Wilson. You're so cute." April sits down next to me and gives me a hug.

"Stop… I can't believe I just cried like that over Shane scoring a touchdown." I just let April hug me and watch the field. I think I see Jackson on the sidelines giving Shane a bunch of props, but I can't even find Alex on the field. The other team's quarterback takes a step back, gets ready to throw and tosses a long ball down the field. I just watch where the ball goes. And the ball goes in the hands of one of our players. INTERCEPTION!

"JO, ALEX CAUGHT AN INTERCEPTION!" Meredith stands up and screams at me like I'm missing something.

"He what?!" I spring up off the bleachers and watch while my number 55 is running as fast as I assume he can. Oh my god this is too much excitement for one night. I think I might pee my pants. "No, no, no, no!" I clench my fists and yell out as a member of the other team is about to tackle my number 55. "DAMMIT!" I stomp my foot as soon as he's tackled.

"See how easy it is to turn into a football freak when your boyfriend's out there playing?!" April grabs me by my shoulders and shakes me. "You should see me when Jackson does something good!"

"I know, oh my god I wanna cry, rip somebody's head off and kiss him ALL AT THE SAME TIME!" I can't sit down anymore so I don't even try. "April, hold me. Hold me… hold me."

"If you're acting like this when all he did was catch an interception, I can't wait to see how you act when he scores! I'm gonna need you to hold me if Jackson scores though."

"If he scores…. I'm kissing him so much after this game!"

Meredith, Cristina and April all look at me like I just lost my mind. "Uh oh, go hairball!" Cristina is really getting a kick outta me. "I really didn't think anybody could beat Kepner with the hilarious reactions but you took the cake."

"Oh shut up, Cristina. You used to tell us about all the dirty sex you and Owen were gonna have every time he scored a touchdown last year!" April playfully snaps at her.

"I give hairball another two weeks before she starts blurting out all the sexual things she's gonna do to Alex when he scores. It's a natural reaction. You do it all the time every time Avery even moves."

"I'm just freaking out right now… I like wanna go out there on the field and high-five Shane and just give Alex the biggest, wettest…." I look at April and Cristina's faces. "…Hug."

"Riiiiight… that's totally what you were gonna say." Meredith winks at me.

"You guys know as well as we do that there's nothing sexier than a sweaty football player after a game." April defends both herself and me in the same sentence. "Especially when they're still excited after a big win… because then you get to have celebration sex!" I just don't even say anything about that. I don't wanna say anything to sound stupid, I don't wanna say anything to sound like a freak. I must admit that I expected talk like this, because after all, I'm hanging out with SENIORS.

"Shhh, April. There are little-virgin-hairball-freshman ears around here." Derek throws a piece of popcorn at April.

"Yeah, I'm sorry Jo. Stay innocent." April sits down after she apologizes.

"…I'm not innocent…"

Meredith gasps at that. "But you're a little baby freshman! You're supposed to stay pure!"

I'm blushing so hard right now it's not even funny. "…You should've told me that when I was fourteen…" I just put my head down.

"FOURTEEN?!" April's jaw drops.

"Okay, now you guys are judging me and this is just awkward…" Still blushing, I just look down at the ground.

"You were a baby!"

"I was… curious! It sucked and I never did it again, okay?"

"But you're a baby!"

"Just because you waited until you were eighteen to lose yours, doesn't mean she was a baby when she lost hers, Kepner." Cristina shockingly defends me. "Up top, hairball!" She offers me a high five and I slap her hand. I have to admit that this is the most fun I've had in a really long time.